So y’all have made a lot of valid points… After taking a look at everything, I’m now entertaining the option of getting the smaller tent from spider farmer. First question is, 2x2 is only big enough for one plant at a time, right? And second, is it really going to make that big of a difference upgrading to the SF1000 vs the SF1000D? Looks like the only difference is the ‘D’ has the original Samsung diodes and the new one has the newer ‘horticultural’ diodes I believe. Are they really THAT much better?
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I thought the more root space the better the yield??? It’s a question.
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Good question I’ve been trying to get this while lighting situation understood too… Go Cards
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Have you looked at the AC Infinity complete tent kits. Not much more cost. They have a lot of quality devices that will plug up to the controller, and I don’t read much of anything negative about their products.
I have one of their 5x5 tents, and it is very well made.
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I know LEDs are more efficient than ballasts and bulbs. Is the difference in electricity costs huge? Something else to consider.
I grow autos in three gallon fabric pots btw. Got a dozen for about $20. Have had good yields so far.
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I think the higher end L.E.D.S are getting about the same amount of light with about 60% of the power used by traditional lights. Is that a lot? Yes and No…… if your running one light on 18/6 the cost difference will most likely cost you $10-$20 more a month (maybe less)than running led’s. And it’s just my personal opinion but I think the light from a decent MH/HPS bulb is a better light source than most of cheap lights using lower end diodes? @Outlaw
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I agree with @Ickey . I use AC Infinitys exhaust and controller. I use HLG lighting. AC Infinitys stuff is great. If i did it all over again my first purchase wouldve been AC infinity as far as the budget friendly controllers go. Plus down the road, you could upgrade your controller to be able to monitor your space through wifi. With the ports, you woukd be able to control your exhaust fans,light,intake if needed, and humidifier ( if bought through AC infinity). Look at the CloudLine Series. This is a shot of my flower room which is 1000 ft away… Im waiting for my controller for my veg room to come in as we speak. I can control my exhaust speed through while traveling down the interstate when im out of town for work.
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Likewise. I just finished setting up my AC Infinity 3x3x6 system and already want the 10x10! Well built product line.
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What he said.
My “Best” light from the Vipar Spectra line V1200, R900,V600, and V300, all bought long ago, the Vipar Spectra V1200, Max watts, 550, uses 2.5 times more electricity to produce the same output of the HLG350R. Buying or building advised. Time component make lighting required important.
5 years with a light bulb, never grew nothing. HLG and be happy. the HLG350R at 50% is 50KLUX at 25 inches. Footprint, small for 4x4. Two required. Still less electricity than the Vipar.s
Less heat generated will allow summer grow indoors, longer.
Paying too much for useless electricity, but growing nice, compared to outdoors.
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Yea, unfortunately the $280 for the spider farmer is already stressing the budget
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@LouisvilleMystic, we will try and help out no matter what options you choose. When I replied yesterday, I was afraid that you were planning on piece milling components from Amazon. Actually I feel much better about the Sider Farm kit, than a lot of the Amazon crap.
I understand working from a limited budget. This why I know that when one is working on a limited budget. It is even more important there their investment doesn’t end up with a failed grow attempt, and wasted money.
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OK let me preface this with, good LEDs are worth the investment assuming you have the money to buy them… That said, people were growing (and still are growing) phenomenal grows indoors without LEDs and without top-of-the-line LEDs… If you can recycle the heat efficiently, MH and HPS are not a bad choice, they gobble up a lot of electricity, but if you are able to evacuate that heat and use it to heat the house then it’s not waste… I do this for winter grows indoors, I simply exhaust the MH/HPS heat to the living space of the house, win win…
Beyond that I have seen incredible grows under fluorescent lights… I have done phenomenal grows of other high light demand plants indoors under fluorescent lights, but it takes a lot… But, again you have to deal with the heat… When I did fluorescent grows, here is what I did, I was growing in a roughly 4x4 area, it was years ago prices were different, but since a lot of commercial buildings were converting to LED, I picked up a bunch of drop ceiling 4 tube fixtures for next to nothing on Craigslist, and again being on the cheap, I picked up half and half brand new 6500K and 3000K tubes for those fixtures and mounted them different colors every other tube in the fixtures… Real grow lights would have been better, but it was all about out of pocket cost… I then took these fixtures and set them vertically on all 4 sides of the grow, to build lighted walls all the way around… I then happened to have a dozen or so two-bulb shop lights in the garage that I had collected over the years remodeling basements, I took some scrap wood and screwed them together into a solid 4x4 fixture that I could raise and lower over the plants… In the end I basically had a tanning bed for the plants, with light coming in from every side and from the top… This works well as the side lighting gets to the lower canopy, reducing the need for as much overhead light… I also took it one more step, I took some CFLs hanging on pendant cords, I finagled some wire mesh around the CFL bulbs as a shield and then dropped these in between the plants in the middle of this light booth… Ugly yes, efficient no, but did it work, yes and it was heaper than good LEDs initially out of the pocket yep…
That said, if you are on a budget, hit up Facebook marketplace and Craigslist, you might be lucky, just a few weeks ago a guy was selling a complete tent setup with what was probably a high end fluorescent light fixture from back in the day for cheap…
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If I do go the tent route with photos I’m definitely only going to be able to do one plant at a time. What kind of yield can I expect from one plant? The reason I was looking at autos was size and time. I’d like to be able to grow enough that I no longer have to purchase. Photos take twice as long, which is just that much longer that I have to pay for my stash. Won’t it take close to a year till I can smoke my first harvest from photos? How much more is the yield between a good photo grow vs a good auto grow?
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@LouisvilleMystic, I have only run photos, so I can’t speak much about the autos, except what I have read. But with photos in a 72 inch tall tent. It will be 6 - 8 weeks from germination through veg. Then 8 - 10 weeks for flowering. And a couple more weeks to dry and cure before you can enjoy the harvest.
You should be able to get about 1 to 2 ounces per square foot for each grow. I would estimate about one ounce per foot just to be safe, and not be disappointed. A 2x2 should give you at least a 1/4 pound. If you get things dialed in this can be as much as a 1/2 pound. I have pulled 12 ounces from a 2x3 a couple times, and most often about 10 ounces. One plant will produce better in a smaller tent than multiples.
Once you get a grow or two going. You can get a small seedling light setup for cheap. Start you next seed at about 6 weeks before your estimated harvest. This will cut your time between each harvest to about 8 weeks.
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Waiting on your first harvest is definitely the hardest part of getting started. But when all is said and done there is nothing that compares growing your own.
A couple years ago we were out of weed while waiting on a harvest. Spend about a month buying the hemp based thc carts that are legal in this state. Not as good as the real thing but it got the wife and me by during this time. And no murder investigation occurred at our house.
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@LouisvilleMystic Grettings and welcome to our community. You in the right place. If you have not made a decision about the lights. Check this one out. Very budget friendly. And a very good light.
VIPARSPECTRA P1000 LED Grow Light with Samsung LM301B Diodes & Dimming Daisy Chain, Full Spectrum Grow Light for Indoor Plants Veg Bloom Growing Lamps for 3x3/2x2 Grow Tent Amazon.com
I run with two of them. In a 3x2 grow tent . And they are awesome. Had to lower intensity because they are so bright. They are very good.
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I tell my wife, pay the electric bill and get a bigger freezer.
Nobody will blame her and siblings may even pay for the privilege.
Absolutely, newer technology, newer lights, work indoors longer, yup, we love growing.
Good growing to you. Try it, you will like it.
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@LouisvilleMystic ive had autos that took longer than photos. The plus about autos is that you really dont have to follow a light schedule. Theyll flip on their own. Also, autos are questionable about yield. Ive had some autos produce a couple of oz, and ive had them produce a few grams. Ive never pulled a photo with under 6 oz dried. I yield way more and just the same amount of time with photos. Ive grown autos and photos together and prefer the photos.
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@LouisvilleMystic, here is the three items that you need to run Jacks 321. You can get them for $20 each from growgreenmi dot com, and with a $75 order you get free shipping. I think this is going to be your most cost effective nutrients that you can use. I also like Roots Original soil.
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Do i NEED nutes?
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